Weekend Box Office Wrap Up: December 1, 2013

Several box office records were broken over the Thanksgiving holiday, as last weekend’s top film continued its dominance.

In the number 1 spot once again is The Hunger Games: Catching Fire with $74 million from Friday to Sunday. Additionally, the film hauled in a massive $110 million over the 5-day holiday weekend.

As if the film’s huge opening weekend wasn’t enough, Catching Fire trounced Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone‘s Thanksgiving record of $80 million. Not to mention the film has grossed $295 million domestic after only two weeks and is already the 3rd highest-grossing film of 2013. Combining that with a worldwide total of $573 million, there’s an outside chance the film will finish with $1 billion total.

Not too far behind Catching Fire is the Disney animated film Frozen (read our review), which pulled in $66 million over the weekend and $93 million since Wednesday. Like Catching Fire, Frozen broke the previous Thanksgiving weekend record, but unfortunately only one film can hold the title.

Nevertheless, Frozen has set a new benchmark for Walt Disney Animation Studios, besting all of their previous films’ opening weekends by a decent margin. As arguably the only family-friendly release in the top 10, Frozen had a huge advantage, and it did well to capitalize on it.

The number 3 film this weekend is Thor: The Dark World with $11 million. Once again, Thor 2 struggled to make a dent on the weekend box office as its biggest competition breaks records left and right. Nevertheless, the film ($186 million domestic) has done excellent business overall, surpassing the first film’s domestic total of $180 million after only 3 weeks and pulling in an additional $404 million overseas.

Coming in at number 4 is The Best Man Holiday with a 3-day total of $8 million. With $63 million after three weeks, this sequel has already doubled its 1999 predecessor’s total gross, and is well on its way to possibly cracking $100 million total.

The action flick Homefront rounds out the top 5 with $6.97 million and $9.8 million over the 5-day weekend. Stars Jason Statham and James Franco have certainly seen better days at the box office, even with 2013 releases. The stiff competition from the top 5 and a lack of marketing likely hurt this film’s chances.

Delivery Man takes the number 6 spot with $6.93 million. Now at $19 million after 2 weeks, it’s safe to call this one a flop.

In at number 7 is the feature film adaptation The Book Thief (read our review), which pulled in $4.85 million over the weekend. Since expanding to 1,000+ screens, the film has seen a big uptick in box office revenue and is now at $7 million overall.

Black Nativity (read our review) is the number 8 film this weekend with a 3-day total of $3.8 million and a 5-day total of $5 million. While it looked like Black Nativity might not crack the top 10 heading into the weekend, it defied expectations thanks to a major box office boost on Friday. That being said, a $5 million tally over 5 days is a poor debut for a film with specific holiday-themed appeals.

Coming in at number 9 is Philomena (read our review) with $3.8 million over the weekend and $4.6 million through the holiday. The film, which stars Dame Judi Dench and Steve Coogan, did decent business during its limited, 835-theater debut, and has been receiving mostly positive reviews from critics.

Rounding out the top is Last Vegas with $2.7 million. While the comedy did drop substantially in its fourth weekend, it has still pulled in a respectable $58 million during that span.

Outside the top 10: Spike Lee’s remake of Oldboy (read our review) absolutely tanked with $850,000 on 583 screens ($1,458/screen) and $1.2 million since opening on Wednesday. While reviews for the film have been mostly negative, and the marketing was barely there, most expected a little better debut out of this one. At the very least, perhaps Oldboy‘s box office performance will serve as a lesson with regard to remakes of already-great films.

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[NOTE: These are only weekend box office estimates - based on Friday and Saturday ticket sales coupled with adjusted expectations for Sunday. Official weekend box office results will be released on Monday, December 2nd - at which time we'll update this post with any changes.]

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The Insufferable Deadpool 1 year ago

Man, sucks for Oldboy. I might have to get in on this Hunger Games stuff, I just blew it off as another useless young adult adaption.

I never watched the first one but man your comments just made me want to catch this second movie. I definitely will. Nice words for JL’s acting. I always thought of her as just another pretty face but looks like I have to see her act too and if what you say is true, it won’t be a disappointment. Thanks bro.

Catching Fire is a competent film, but if the premise even remotely interests you, I’d recommend looking into Battle Royale, the title that Collins liberally “borrowed” elements from to make her teeny bopper series. Battle Royale is the violent, gritty dystopian tale Hunger Games desperately wants to emulate, of course minus the teeny boppers and silly romantic subplots.
My girlfriend and I saw CF last night and it’s the same as the first film- competently made and acted, but way too wordy, with confused action sequences. For a film about brutal violence, ya know- kids killing each other in gladiator style combat- there’s very little fighting in either of the two HG films released so far. Battle Royale is executed better, IMO. Just my two cents

I felt the same way as you did about Hunger Games, decided to cave in and checked it out, I honestly liked it and didn’t even think it was a movie for kids. The 2nd was worth the money paid and a brilliant movie.

It does suck for Oldboy, but I might check it out still or maybe not…….

I think you’ll probably see that the Hobbit has longer legs internationally. Also, it’s going to get a huge bump from IMAX and 3D sales so it should reach a billion I’d say.
Catching Fire’s all the more impressive (if it hits a billion) for being 2D only. Dark Knight Rises and Skyfall both achieved this on 2D last year so for Hunger Games to potentially be part of this club is incredible.

It absolutely deserves the success.

Unless Suzanne Collins has an Iron-clad clause in her contract about this, you can safely bet that they’ll be more Hunger Games post-Mockingjay. They’ve got 75 years of History to draw prequels from and a world that has huge opportunity for expansion.

Hobbit 2 will most surely benefit from IMAX/3D sales. However, it all may balance out in the end because of its long run time of three hours or more*. A three and a half hour flick won’t be able to play as many times in a theater as often as a 2 hour movie.

*( Don’t know the exact run time of Hobbit 2 yet BUT judging from the first Hobbit flick from last year which ran aprox 3 hours and also the last Middle Earth trilogy, it’s a safe bet that 3 hours or more is probable.)

As far as The Hunger Games is concerned, I’m sure Collins and Lionsgate are already talking about extending their saga well past Mockingjay. With Jennifer Lawrence as the figurehead of the franchise, it’s a no brainer. Both Ms Lawrence and The Hunger Games stories have a rabid following, collectively AND on their own. But those two together, franchise AND reigning young star, are a brand new cinematic powerhouse that will predominate for years to come.

The Hunger Games has filled the void that both the Harry Potter and Twilight films have left and I think too many people have yet to realize the potential that The Hunger Games will reap. I have a feeling the franchise will get better and better.

@Anthony Taormina, I think a big-ol dragon’ll be enough to pack ‘em in this time round, but we’ll see I guess.

I think the hidden big story is Disney’s in-house studio success. Over the course of their last three flicks they’ve managed to pretty much out-Pixar Pixar. If Frozen gets 700 million in the bank that’s a real statement about how strongly audiences feel about their current output. We’re a far cry from the Princess and the Frog, Bolt and Meet the Robinsons at this point. Man of Steel has a chance of being knocked out of the top-ten worldwide by year end. That’d be a real embarrassment for Warner Brothers (despite the film being awesome IMO).

Hobbit 2 will most surely benefit from IMAX/3D sales. However, it all may balance out in the end because of its long run time of three hours or more*. A three and a half hour flick won’t be able to play as many times in a theater as often as a 2 hour movie.

As far as The Hunger Games is concerned, I’m sure Collins and Lionsgate are already talking about extending their saga well past Mockingjay. With Jennifer Lawrence as the figurehead of the franchise, it’s a no brainer. Both Ms Lawrence and The Hunger Games stories have a rabid following, collectively AND on their own. But those two together, franchise AND reigning young star, are a brand new cinematic powerhouse that will predominate for years to come.

The Hunger Games has filled the void that both the Harry Potter and Twilight films have left and I think too many people have yet to realize the potential that The Hunger Games will reap. I have a feeling the franchise will get better and better.

*( Don’t know the exact run time of Hobbit 2 yet BUT judging from the first Hobbit flick from last year which ran aprox 3 hours and also the last Middle Earth trilogy, it’s a safe bet that 3 hours or more is probable.)

But the key difference is that each demographic, or following, comes in different numbers. And also with differing levels of enthusiasm.

There’s no question that there are many, many Tolkien fans – but I’m inclined to agree with Anthony Taormina in that expectations for last year’s “Unexpected Journey” fell a bit flat and THAT will in turn only make things harder for ” The Desolation Of Smaug” at the box office.

After he tweeted what he believed was George Zimmerman’s address (therefore promoting mob rule), he lost absolutely all respect from me. The fool even tweeted the wrong address, thereby victimizing innocent people. The guy has mental issues, and he should have been prosecuted for doing that. If he never makes a movie again, it will be too soon.

I like to brag that I saw her coming, when I watched “Winters Bone” shortly after her being cast in “First Class”. Solid performance for her first starring role, sold me immediately. Doesn’t hurt to look amazing in blue body paint. Needs a breakout roll now, to really launch her career…